The winners of the Alaska Positive 2008 photography-as-art exhibition will be on display at the Alaska State Museum beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 2.

Of the 267 photographs submitted by 80 photographers from 10 Alaska communities for the biannual exhibition, juror Bill Owens selected 56 photographs by 42 photographers to be displayed. The exhibit will be on display in Juneau through Oct. 18 and then will tour around the state.

Bonnie Landis of Anchorage won the Juror's Choice Award for the best overall photograph with a shot titled "Rooftop." Ben Huff of Fairbanks took second place and Deanna Lampe of Juneau took third for the cash awards. Brandon Hauser of Juneau won a fourth place award.

Ten other photographers have been given Honorable Mentions, including: William Heath of Kenai, Ben Huff of Fairbanks, Jayne Jones of Kenai, Pat Kalbaugh of Juneau, Barbara Kelly of Juneau, Clark James Mishler of Anchorage, Tama Phelps of Anchorage, John Schwieder of Anchorage, Nathaniel Wilder of Anchorage, and Carol J. Zeien of Seldovia.

Owens, known for his photo book "Suburbia," said in a statement, "As a photographer who is always involved in the documentary image, I was looking for the winners to be people who had a big vision of Alaska, and the winner was a landscape image with an abandoned building that had the composition and color, the mountains and the mist."

Here are some other events going on during First Friday:

Juneau Arts & Culture Center, 350 Whittier St.: The Juneau Arts & Humanities Council will host "Awakening Inner Beauty," a new show by artists Nancy Karacand and Sandra Mander, at its gallery from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

Karacand and Mander are both psychotherapists and have been professional and artistic colleagues for years, sharing "a deep appreciation for the ability of the human aesthetic sense to inspire, heal and promote transcendent experience in the midst of sorrow and suffering."

For more than 20 years Karacand has been creating contemporary beaded jewelry and coil baskets. A regular at the Juneau Public Market, she has sold her jewelry in shops and galleries in Southeast Alaska and Anchorage.

Roughly six years ago Mander revived her former artistic passion of ceramics at the University of Alaska Southeast and has been working in low-fire sculpture and raku, high-fire stoneware and porcelain. Her work has been displayed in UAS and arts council juried art shows, and she has been a public vendor with Karacand at the public market the last three years.

The exhibit will run through May.

REACH window display, 213 3rd Street: Instruments for the Juneau Symphony's "Artful Instruments" benefit auction - set for May 10 at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center - will be previewed on First Friday in the display window of Reach Building downtown.

Instead of contributing to the ever-growing landfill in Lemon Creek, event coordinators rounded up 20 stringed instruments that were too damaged to be played and passed them into the hands of local artists who "painted, dismantled, rebuilt, stripped and stained" them, transforming them into visual art pieces.

For more information on the auction call Valarie at 586-4676.

Ruby Room, Emporium Mall: Nearly a dozen oil paintings by Corlé LaForce will be on display for First Friday. She says the body of work was created after giving birth to her daughter and the transformation has helped her begin to "understand the fullness of being a woman." In addition to motherhood, LaForce's work has been informed by organic nature, orchids, rust and creatures of flight.

Annie Kaill's, 244 Front Street: Juneau jewelry artist Colleen Goldrich will unveil her summer collection of necklaces, bracelets and jewelry. She works in pearls, silver and semiprecious stones. Works by Juneau artist Pua Manu, who creates "abstract landscape" paintings, will also be on display at the gallery from 4:30 to 8 p.m.

Back Room at the Silverbow Inn: "From the Inside Out," an exhbit by UAS student Rachelle Miller, will be presented from 4:30 to 8 p.m. She will display a collection of her artwork in variety of media including batik, photography and paintings.

The Canvas Community Art Studio & Gallery 223 Seward St.: Basement Studios glass artists Tasha Walen and Lincoln Farabee will be opening their first solo glass exhibit from 4:30 to 7 p.m. titled "Glass, Metal & Bones: Exploring the Boundaries." Walen and Farabee have spent the past year preparing for the show by expanding their glass-creating skills. There will be glass beads, metal and kiln-formed masks, glass tiles, sculpted glass creatures and blown work on display.